title: Laboratory studies on secondary organic aerosol formation from crude oil vapors.
abstract: Airborne measurements of aerosol composition and gas phase compounds over the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2010 indicated the presence of high concentrations of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from organic compounds of intermediate volatility. In this work, we investigated SOA formation from South Louisiana crude oil vapors reacting with OH in a Potential Aerosol Mass flow reactor. We use the dependence of evaporation time on the saturation concentration (C*) of the SOA precursors to separate the contribution of species of different C* to total SOA formation. This study shows consistent results with those at the DWH oil spill: (1) organic compounds of intermediate volatility with C* = 10(5)-10(6) μg m(-3) contribute the large majority of SOA mass formed, and have much larger SOA yields (0.37 for C* = 10(5) and 0.21 for C* = 10(6) μg m(-3)) than more volatile compounds with C*≥10(7) μg m(-3), (2) the mass spectral signature of SOA formed from oxidation of the less volatile compounds in the reactor shows good agreement with that of SOA formed at DWH oil spill. These results also support the use of flow reactors simulating atmospheric SOA formation and aging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borbon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graus
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Warneke
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Brune
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: de Gouw
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000737:chemistry*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D005740:Gases; D060851:Gulf of America; D007753:Laboratories; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D005740:Gases; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D010578:Petroleum